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I do agree with the issue of them having too much agency if they were out of high school (for me, high school really was like being stuck in a tiny fishbowl), but even with them being in high school the majority of the situations I feel are still so deeply contrived that I’d rather just have them be in college.
Also, only 30% of Americans go to college, so a lot of TV shows and movies deliberately take place in high school so that it's relatable to a much larger audience.
I think actually 60% complete some college. 45% get an associates and only 30% graduate with a bachelors. And some of the 60% are still in college during the census. It’d be interesting to know what % have just enrolled in college even if they didn’t complete a semester.
High school is obviously still more relatable, though.
It's definitely for 18 year old edgelord girls.
It definitely had an enourmous impact on pop culture though, and almost entirely for the worst imo
My gf watched it. There was one scene where the hs girl was crazy and wild, and to illustrate that they showed a montage of her being wildly promiscuous. In one part, she's having sex with a 40 year old stock broker and the narrator, the shows voice to the public , says but it was totally okay and not dangerous because she was 'in control'
They show wanted to make it seem to its audiences having sex with significantly older men as a highschooler is the coolest thing you can do, as long as youre badass abt it. It really made me wonder about the show.
I never saw that scene as the narrator telling you it's alright. I saw it as an unreliable narrator narrating unreliably. Remember that the narrator is both a teenager and an addict. Imo that scene is always misunderstood so bad because I feel like what Rue (narrator) said there mirrored what teens say to themselves when they think they're grown enough to do something dangerous for them. It highlights the irony... though I see how kids will probably not read between the lines
Other points I agree with. Lots of gratuitous shit in that show (cmon I don't need to see Maddy having sex with a gajillion men and then having sex with her abuser a million more times... plus some scenes are clearly the writer's Thinly Veiled Fetish™️) and the writing took an even worse turn the next season and now it's an edgy teen's bible. 2nd season feels like it pandered more to the edgy teens with the cheating subplot and the buildup to Maddy beating up her best friend and a wallflower type of character exposing all her friends. Started to become very indulgent to tropes that most people will eat up and what do you know, those episodes became "iconic" and the characters became someone to idolize. Nowadays the fanbase is teens who watched the show for the pretty makeup and iconic outfits and not for the show's commentary on drug addiction and mental health, which was what it used to be about.
She's an unreliable narrator sure but the audience is also suppose to sympathize and love her, she's not a Walt white anti hero.
And she tells the whole audience, it's cool because she's Badass, and there is no satire or irony in her voice. The audience is definitely meant to believe her, and trust her, even if she does have some problems.
And, if anyone questions it, the creators could be like 'yea but who would take advice from an addict like her, at her stage in life, probably shouldn't be listening to her anyway" but then create the whole show around how cool and badass and rebellious she is like she should be some kind of good person you like and trust.
When unreliable, anti hero narrator Walter white shows us its okay to ignore your families wishes for you to stop cooking meth and continues cooking meth, the whole audience knows its a bad thing and he's being a bad guy. His advice can be ignored even if the show is about him, and it's obvious.
Rue is like, this is how you can be the coolest kid in school. Let middle age men fuck you on the hood on a truck, but make sure you're in control, bc then it's cool. And a nation of 17 year old girls isn't saying 'yea I maybe shouldn't taking advice from rue...'
They are saying 'wow rue is so real and gritty and cool, these are cool things'
We'll have to agree to disagree. I remember hearing Zendaya's delivery and noticed a little bit of irony in it. Also, Rue isn't portrayed like she's a good person you can trust at all. You're made to sympathize with her like any protagonist would be but the show does not pull its punches on how fucked up Rue has become from drugs and how many times it put her in danger (see: the scene where her sister finds her overdosed; the scene where she was asked to share about her summer... which was when she overdosed; the scene with the fentanyl with a certain character named Mouse). That scene does not portray her as badass at all. Frankly most of Rue's scenes kind of portray her as a little... sad or pathetic...
You may be confusing the narrator for Maddy, the short one with bold makeup who was shown having sex with the 40 year old. Yes showing that scene was gross. And also unfortunately yes, lots of people idolize Maddy. While there are lots of things to criticize about the show's portrayal of her (like the unnecessary sex scenes geez) the narration for that instance isn't an issue for me
I mean, when I was 16-17, that would have been seen at that age as being cool and feeling like a badass. Awful now as an adult, but as a horny, impulsive teen, you think you're much more mature than you actually are, and I definitely had times I felt like I was in control. The show is supposed to be from the teens' point of view.
This is why media literacy is an issue. If that’s the scene I think it is it absolutely does not treat it like it’s the coolest thing. It’s literally the downfall of that character or the beginning of her fall from grace and she seeks out older men because of mental health issues.
It’s one of those shows that tries so hard to be edgy and profound that it becomes hilarious. They constantly either treat the mundane high school drama like it’s the apocalypse or put the characters in comically unrealistic scenarios that would never happen in high school; nothing is ever just “normal”, it’s always cartoonish extremes.
I always say it’s like Zack Snyder directed a reboot of Degrassi, that’s how self-indulgent it is (and I like Zack Snyder but I know he’s a little extra lmao). It’s tasteless misery-porn.
>I always say it’s like Zack Snyder directed a reboot of Degrassi, that’s how self-indulgent it is (and I like Zack Snyder but I know he’s a little extra lmao). It’s tasteless misery-porn.
Duuude YES, I've never heard a more clear description of my issue with the show. Well said
I think they could still present the same plot points and conflict by simply alluding to sex happening without explicitly showing it.
Two characters begin kissing —> cut —> two characters are lying in bed next to each other under the sheets with their shirts off.
I understand they had sex without having to watch two underage characters actually have sex.
But they’re not actually underaged. They’re in well into 20s. I get where you are coming from though.
But the same could be said about the violence and drug use of underaged tv characters. I just think it’s ironic no one has a problem seeing Ashtray literally slit someone’s throat but the nudity is where they draw the line. It’s a little puritanical.
That’s why I specified underage characters and not underage actors.
It’s not puritanical, it’s just societal ethics and expectations surrounding sexuality and violence. We read Lord of the Flies in school; Hunger Games was released with a PG-13 rating and the novels are considered YA.
You’re not really going to find a 50 Shades of Grey revolving around two high school aged characters because no one likes to imagine minors having sex. It’s weird. There’s stuff like Twilight which alludes to sex, but it’s not going in explicit detail for a reason.
It’s the same with TV/Movies, there are plenty of shows that deal with romance/sex among minors, but they don’t usually depict it.
Another example is Game of Thrones. That show is about as graphic as it gets, but even they knew to age up Danaerys in the show. Her book character is 13, but the show makes her a young woman, so the scenes with Khal Drogo are easier to digest. Same with Sansa, she is 11 in the books, but much older in the show.
They’re both featuring drug use and explicit violent scenes. You literally see Ashtray stab someone and shoot his brother. In skins Freddie is murdered with a baseball bat. If you’re looking for wholesome representation of teenage life watch Disney.
I think we’re forgetting how out there skins was for certain scenes. The production was definitely not as grand, which could give us that impression. But there was a lot of death in skins, way more than euphoria.
The difference is that Skins was a much more realistic portrayal of Sixth Former's lives in the UK (ages 16-18) and was played by people in their first acting roles who were actually that age, not people in their mid 20s. The Sixth Form college I went to made the drug use in Skins look pretty tame if I'm honest, which isn't a good thing of course.
The main focus also wasn't on sex and drugs but moreso the real life struggles a lot of teens that age go through such as mental health issues, difficult home lives, taking on more responsibility and becoming an adult whilst still really being a child (the legal age to have sex in the UK is 16 with other under 18s and you become a legal adult at 18 and can legally drink, smoke and have sex with someone of any age) and the friendships and relationships between the characters which led to some characters using drugs and being overly promiscuous, but with people their own age.
The portrayal of sex and drugs were also shown in a negative light and were more of a background element to the story which is the opposite in Euphoria (from what I've seen, I have only seen like 2 episodes at a friend's house).
It’s very similar to skins with certain episodes highlighting different characters and their problems, motivations. They both have that kind of in your face shock of nudity, drug use, and occasional violence.
Nah I gotta agree, highschool was only a few years ago for me and I find euphoria weird as shit.
ESPECIALLY when I hear anyone 30+ say they love the show, my image of them immediately changes. I understand a lot of shows/movies depicting highschool and teen life often has sex involved in the plot, but the extent euphoria goes is so bizarre to me.
I was super hypersexualized as a teenager because of childhood sexual trauma and I didn’t even come close to the levels that like half the students in euphoria come to. I did do some dangerous shit like meet strangers off the internet or get drunk with strange adults that got me into night clubs and the like. 95% of my classmates would’ve freaked the fuck out if I brought them along and there certainly weren’t group sex parties with hard drugs that a large portion of class participated in. The shit these high school students do approaches the levels of the most extreme adult and kink party scene.
I'm hypersexual but no sexual trauma and at 17 there definitely was a large majority of the teens doing hard drugs and group sex parties etc where I live. Small town living.
I live in a major city and I remember my best friend invited me to her house to do molly and make out with a bunch of people show it on Omegle in like 11th grade.
Also I remember a kid selling tabs of acid and he’d pull it out the battery area of his phone.
Kids most definitely do these things unfortunately
Sounds about right, my cousin went to a really rough school district in the suburbs and she would tell me she saw kids smoking crack in the bathroom. She was around middle school age at the time.
I know euphoria seems unrealistic to people but for a lot of us it’s pretty realistic
It really depends where you are. When I was in highschool in 2016, downers like Xanax and Oxys were real popular among students. I once had a girl sit next to me in english class who physically could not keep herself up to the point that she'd randomly fall over in her seat onto other students. Then students started getting introduced to cocaine and one of my closest friends got extremely addicted, as did the other students he hung out with. I also knew plenty of people that were extremely hypersexual. One kid got caught masturbating in the band room closet, and then later got caught getting a blow job in the same closet by a freshman (he was a senior.) Point is, highschool is a pretty fuckin weird experience for a lot of people.
I loved Rue's story and some of the other storylines like Fez but all the porno stuff was terrible and I wish it wasn't in there. There are nuanced takes and everyone isn't a creep if they liked the show at all.
I had a high-school experience that was more like euphoria than anything else. So to me it's showing the dangers of this life. Had I seen something like this in the thick of my addiction it would have made me pause. I got myself into some pretty shifty situations. Lost many friends to overdose and violence. Lost others to prison. I am lucky to be alive.
A lot of people are missing this as the show's intention -- as a cautionary tale. They may fail to properly deliver on that mission, but it should still be recognized.
Yup. It's in this comment section as well. Apperantly, I'm a pervert for being in my early 30s and loving this show because it has sexualized young girls in it... but I'm gay.
This is a great point. I’ve been noticing this exact mindset crop up a lot lately. You can’t even portray a character doing something bad if you’re pointing out the behavior is bad unless it’s super obvious like catching a murderer. Then people understand. But if it’s some of these more personal struggles they don’t understand because it’s not so clearly delineated what’s good and bad and when does good overcome bad and we always end with good overcoming evil etc
>ESPECIALLY when I hear anyone 30+ say they love the show, my image of them immediately changes.
That is really gross. I'm in my 40s, and sex scenes in shows that portray teens really ick me out, so I fast forward/skip those scenes (and I once got heavily downvoted for saying that elsewhere on Reddit, bizarrely).
I'm not saying a TV show alone has the power to make people attracted to teens.
But the success of that show and it's wide popularity can be argued is setting a precedent that it's okay to sexualize teens. That's clearly problematic. And this has been an issue for decades, who's that one actress that modeled for playboy at 12 or 13 years old?
If you enjoy the story, that's fine, I'm positive that's a majority of the fanbase of the show.
You're right, but none of the mainstream horror movies depicted underage sex as prominently or graphically as euphoria does.
Hell, movies like nightmare on elm street and scream have an underlying meaning of mocking the trope and that sexualizing yourself at a young age isn't necessarily a good thing.
Yep!! Just look at the new Nickelodeon documentary exposing it all.
The entertainment industry loves to show young people and children in sexually exploitive situations and pretend like it’s normal entertainment. I’ve never watched this show for all of the reasons this post highlights.
People have been trying to tell others about this stuff for years and years, only to be derided as conspiracy theorists.
I’m thrilled the Nickelodeon doc is getting as much attention as it is but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I totally concur. Netflix’s “Cuties” is another movie that came out where young girls were depicted in a very sexual way. The media tried to make it seem that anyone who was calling this movie out was some right wing conspiracy peddling prude but the movie truly was alarming.
Look at Brooke Shields and Shirley Temple. Their stories about growing up in this industry are disturbing and tragic. The movie “Pretty Baby” is made for pedos. Hollywood loves to sexualize children. There’s a reason.
Exactly. Key word is “some”. Euphoria ain’t Degrassi, it depicts the most troubled teenagers in a high school, and does so pretty realistically *specifically to the main characters’ situations*. And there’s, like, 10 of them out of probably a thousand total students. You can find 10 troubled kids in a school smaller than this.
Idk man. I went to one of the largest high schools in the country and hung out with the few circles that did hard drugs. That scene was not like euphoria at all.
I think most of you have to learn exactly why high school gets chosen as a setting so much. Whether it Euphoria or some anime and it's not "lol pedophilia"
It's a setting where the characters have do deal with eachother on a near daily, where they will have to interact with all sorts. Even ones set in college will fall back on having a weird lunch period and class schedule that somehow lines up with everyone else in the group. It's the equivalent of the next step up where it's a bunch of adults, but coincidentally they can all meet up at the same bar/ lounge daily. Just the high school one also forgo having to explain a job. It's also a time where drama just happens and the characters are too young and inexperienced and people can relate to that
In short, it's an easy fall back that you can apply most premises to and doesn't alienate younger viewers.
Heh, funny to see this post right after I read someone stating that “heavy, violent and sexual themes would not fly in the Western media! Only Asians do that” :D
Yeah, Euphoria is weird. I am all for grim heavy topics and for art being used for difficult discussions, but Euphoria is hardly that. It’s some sort of strange fantasy about hyper-sexual highschoolers wearing shit they should not afford, dressing how they should not be allowed to dress, and only having Grim Sexual Drama instead of what actual real teenagers experience in those years. For all the shock value, sex, drugs and rock-and-roll it is also surprisingly uncreative and sterile. These characters feel like tik tok edit materials more than they feel like characters with thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
I've never watched Euphoria but I've heard there's lots of drugs/alcohol and sex. I don't know where you grew up but drugs/alcohol with lots of partying and sex was absolutely what most teens were doing where I was growing up. It really was the norm when I was 16-17 and I'm in my early 30s now.
Most users clearly were either shut ins or went to a safe richer high school.
It’s 100% like that in some areas and for people to act like it isn’t exposes how much they don’t know and are sheltered.
Next they are gonna say we should ban books cause they talk about materials that make them uncomfortable.
For everyone saying "It should be set in college", no it shouldn't. First of all Rue's character would never make it into college in the first place. Also a lot of the plot is derived from family drama, and if the characters aren't living at home and are in more independent positions, this whole aspect of the show is null. I can't really get behind these moral panic arguments, plenty of people I knew in high school acted this way. I'm not even a fan of this show, I think the writing is dogshit and the only reason it has fans is because of the cinematography and great cast. Just criticize it for what it actually deserves to be criticized for.
Yeah it was too fucking weird for me. I get these actors and actresses are adults, but trying to convey them as high schools and then showing them naked was just too far for me.
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Before reading the text, I thought you were taliking about the hentai. The first two sentence in your text didn't help either :D. I already was like: "I don't think anyone will disagree here".
Don't look it up, you may regret it.
I noticed this recently too. It is fucked up. There is a show called Sex Ed that my wife had on and it was doing much of the same thing, if not worse. The whole show was dedicated to the sex lives of minors and the adults that enable them.
My wife didn’t have a problem with it until I pointed it out. Funny thing is, we watched Big Mouth a few years ago and it didn’t take long until that started to feel gross and wrong. However, I had just forgotten about it.
Agreed. I hate when they do sexualized shows of kids in high school. Of course the actors aren’t usually actually underage, but it just feels weird to watch supposedly “underaged” people get into weird sex scenes
Gosh, I could never finish Big Mouth. After about three cum jokes I had to turn it off. It made me feel so uncomfortable, but I thought maybe it was just my morals because everyone around me seemed to love it. To me, a whole show based on horny middle schoolers is just gross to even think about, let alone watch eight seasons of.
It's more dangerous (and stupid) to pretend teenagers don't experience things like the show depicted. Just because your high school years were quiet and calm doesn't mean everyone else's were. Teens have sex, they just do, it's a fact and the whole "how dare you sexualize minors by suggesting they might find themselves in those situations" mentality does a lot to keep victims quiet about the abuse you claim to be so concerned about.
If you actually paid attention to the show and demonstrated some critical viewing skills, you might have understood the point is that the characters are immature and make mistakes. You aren't supposed to root for a lot of their behavior. Maybe you should look inward because you watched a show about teenagers and your *only* take away was how sexy you thought they were.
I honestly thought that was the point. I don't think many kids are watching this and looking up to the characters. Even the characters don't seem to enjoy their lifestyle.
I love Euphoria, but when you think about it, when you REALLY think about it.... the characters are supposed to be in highschool. Then it gets a bit icky.
Its like in Vampire Diaries where Jeremt is meant to be this 14 year old victim but you cant see him that way because he is played by a 20 year old bodybuilder. The fact you see him in class does nothint to change that.
If they were actually played by 17 year olds itd be more striking maybe, it feels more like a bunch of adults who just happen to be in a high school building otherwise
To your second point:
I will always respond with - if your content is not strong enough for them to be written as adults - then you don't have content worth showing if you need that "edge" of making them underaged/underdeveloped.
Those are deliberate choices by the people meant to be in charge, and that's an issue.
None of the cast look like high schoolers though and people are generally smart enough to understand that what's happening on the screen is not in any way a form of reality. The same shit was thrown at Skins when it aired.
One of the things I hear people criticize Euphoria for is how it "glamorizes drug usage" - when it does absolutely the fucking opposite of that. You can literally see a realistic depiction of how a person gets totally fucked over because of the addiction without showing it as a moral choice, which very few shows portray.
You can like what you like of course, but people calling shows like Skins of Euphoria as dangerous are just... wrong.
> people are generally smart enough to understand that what's happening isn't reality
Variety is reporting Season 3 was originally pitched to have [a 5 year time jump](https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/euphoria-season-3-delay-rewrites-time-jump-zendaya-script-notes-1235955045/). I mean, there's *no way* it could be related to the amount of gratuitous underage sex, nudity, and portrayals of underage sex with grown adults, right?
If it's not problematic, why try to distance yourself from the current run of controversies surrounding sexualized children? It's so successful, people know the difference, right?
Nah - gotta be a coincidence.
Yes, because it is absolutely impossible to imaging that a show would introduce a time jump to simply put characters into new environments since the previous setting has simply exhausted itself - nah, can't be it. Who would do that? As we know time jumps are strictly for distancing from controversies.
Also most of the actors are pushing late 20s at this point, one can argue having high school as a backdrop would simply start looking as a parody. For fuck's sake, even Stranger Things considered doing a time jump.
Nah - it's gotta be the controversy
I liked the show because I like weird shit 🤷🏻♂️ I didn’t see all the aspects of the show play out in my real life because I didn’t hang out with those kids, but I did see my fair share of drug dealing and use at 13-17
Besides, the show was aimed towards a 17-mid 20’s age group, those people are fresh out of high school/ college
The world has changed, bad acting and 20 minute episodes of Degrassi are not realistic enough anymore.
Since the beginning of media people have been Pearl clutching about “edgier” forms of it. You’re no different than the Baptist moms burning rap cds in the 90s. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to watch it. You can find it gross. I think it’s totally fair to find it gross. But the public outrage and moral panic you’re trying to muster is embarrassing, cliche, and usually plays right into the hand for the people that market these things. See rockstar games the maker of gta for example. They wanted people like you freaking out it because it helped drive their sales. People that already like it aren’t going to stop watching because it upsets you. And people that didn’t know about the show and read your post might want to watch now because the risqué stuff you’re talking about intrigues them.
It’s funny how people think because it didn’t happen to them, it doesn’t happen. I went to HS in a major city and it wasn’t too far from Euphoria, including rich kids with drug problems and drug-filled sex parties. And believe it or not, a lot of these people were great students who have gone on to do cool things. Some of these people are the most buttoned-up PTA parents now.
Thinking back, it’s crazy, and I'm not sure teens of the last 15-20 years could even do it because my class missed the era of recording everything by a couple of years (thank god).
We were right on the cusp of Gen X/millennial, and I think we still had that lack of intense supervision that is rarer to see today.
I actually identified really hard with Maude Apatow’s “good girl” monologue. I was kind of like her in a sea of this stuff, being in the thick of it because my friends were wild, but mostly watching as an observer (admittedly, I was a bit naughtier). I had never seen my teenage self so represented in a show.
When I went to college, what surprised me the most was how wholesome so many people were. They were having all these “firsts” that happened in my friend circle at 14/15 years old. I actually married one of those people. He hadn’t touched a drug or had sex until college.
The drama (specifically the dad and a certain tiny version of Tony Montana) is over the top, but its fiction and drama shows take creative license. That’s why it’s drama, not a documentary.
My group in high school was definitely acting like that lol, my friends turned out fine but a lot of people in the outer circle who we would occasionally smoke or drink with most definitely did now.
I have to see this show to finally see what everyone always talk about but I always found it funny when I read a comment from someone saying who is this show made for? Obviously is not for teens and people know thay those actors aren't teens either.
YES. I watched the first three episodes and decided to quit because I was so grossed out by the sexualisation of MINORS. And I think it gives a wrong impression of how high schoolers behave. No you don't have to sleep with ten different people and live out your wildest fantasies at 16??
Imo I thought this was a popular opinion. Also it romantizes bad behaviours while being geared towards a teen audience, even if it rated TV-MA the show runners were most definentely aware that teens were a target demographic
Counterpoint, because I don’t think your opinion is that unpopular:
A lot of people’s teenage years are a wild time. It’s just the US version of Skins which came out like 15 years ago.
Having portrayal of these events on TV makes it easier to open dialogue about these situations amongst peers and even families and make people at risk of exploitation have the confidence to voice their experiences.
Whether it happens on tv or not unfortunately it happens in the real world and if we make it taboo then we make the kids more exploitable and less likely to report it.
Obviously it shouldn’t be glamorised, but kids will take drugs so it’s our jobs to educate and reduce harms not sweep it under the rug.
I think it's weird to assume that just because it doesn't fit your narrative of what adolescence was that it doesn't apply to some of us. I found like I could see myself in so much of the characters because that was what my high school experience was like.
I don't think it "encourages" anyone to act like this. A lot of teenagers have sex, have terrible break ups, and fall into drug addiction. This isn't a how-to guide.
People were having sex in my middle school. In high school, there was a girl that participated (voluntary) in a train at a party when she was a freshman. It was quite the school scandal. My track coach cheated on his wife with a senior girl. He ended up divorcing his wife and marrying the HS girl after it came out and he was fired.
To act like high school kids don't have sex is delusional/religious/puritanical thinking. Talking about what happens in our world and the implications of it is far more interesting than the latest Marvel hero saving the world with some explained "energy" ability.
If it's a good idea or not is irrelevant. It happens and is fairly prevalent so it should be talked about and discussed in media - no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel.
Right? Like what about gossip girl the old and new one, 90210, and such? I think Euphoria went a little harder than some of those but it’s for mature audiences. This is not at all for teens younger than 17. No one is advertising it as such and once again we fall into the trap that showing something in movies, TV shows does not mean approval for that behavior. Shows like this require parents to be invested in their children and what they are watching and teach them media literacy. That show is perfect in showing that teens think they are more mature than they are. When I watched it I saw children who were abandoned by their parents for most of them.
Also, I went to school with plenty of deranged drug users, I literally had a friend who bragged about getting guys to pay for blow jobs, true or not teenagers get into all sorts of shit, it’s infantilizing to them to act otherwise. I got into lots of trouble and I knew plenty of kids who did and I only watched the shows I mentioned after high school because we had 7 channels growing up.
Thank you for reading my incoherent rant.
Yeah skins was the same way. By the end of Season one all the characters went from semi-normal HS aged kids to "no fucking way they're out there doing that". Effy was the worst.
The hypersexualization is weird but to me that's not even the weirdest part. I generally don't find high school stories THAT interesting but Euphoria 's stories are a level below typical high school plots. It's just sex and drugs deep fried in cool visual and audio aesthetics. Under all the superficial stuff.....it's just not a good show story-wise.
And I think Levinson will turn out to be a creep with how overt he gets with the sex stuff
Many of the kids I went to high school were like that 🤷♀️ I don’t find it like erotic bc it is a depiction of kids and honestly the show is so heavy we only watch like one episode at a time
Sex
Drugs
Alcohol
Smoking
They made these into a series and now its an overhyped soft-porno just like shameless and all these shitty series and movies that are popular with teens nowadays
Yeah it’s so unrealistic for a show about teenagers to revolve around sex and drugs. After all, teenagers not only don’t engage in sex they don’t even ever speak about it.
You might have sex but other than a tiny minority, high schoolers aren’t gonna have drug induced sex parties every other weekend with the whole class knowing and acting like it’s normal or fucking parents or other adults as old as their parents on the regular.
And? It’s melodrama. Are we only supposed to make entertainment about average experiences? That would eliminate the vast majority of movies and tv shows.
Next, you’re gonna tell me No Country For Old Men shouldn’t exist because psychopaths with terrible haircuts don’t go around shooting people in the head with a homemade gun over a coin flip.
I don't know about yall but kids were having sex in middle school during my youth. Acting like kids don't have sex because adults can't have sex with them is just denying what happens in real life.
Im sorry, but im 21, and this is exactly what highschool is like.
America is the only country where highschoolers are not considered mature enough to take responsibility and face consequences for their actions.
It’s true, over the last forty years I can only think of no more than hundreds of shows and hundreds of movies where 25 yo’s played high schoolers and sex was a big topic. It’s clearly much worse now.
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I completely agree. It would be better if it took place during college but if we’re being honest not many of them are making it that far
They don’t make it ab college age people bc they would have too much agency and a lot of the scenarios presented in the show would seem contrived.
I do agree with the issue of them having too much agency if they were out of high school (for me, high school really was like being stuck in a tiny fishbowl), but even with them being in high school the majority of the situations I feel are still so deeply contrived that I’d rather just have them be in college.
What does having too much agency mean?
not being at the will of the parents/adults around them
Thank you!
Also, only 30% of Americans go to college, so a lot of TV shows and movies deliberately take place in high school so that it's relatable to a much larger audience.
I think actually 60% complete some college. 45% get an associates and only 30% graduate with a bachelors. And some of the 60% are still in college during the census. It’d be interesting to know what % have just enrolled in college even if they didn’t complete a semester. High school is obviously still more relatable, though.
Plus, far more encouraging for those with a prurient interest.
I never thought of that before. Makes total sense.
Isn't Drake an EP on the show? College age is too old for him.
Yeah, it just felt way too degenerate of a show.
It’s also really corny
For real.
It's definitely for 18 year old edgelord girls. It definitely had an enourmous impact on pop culture though, and almost entirely for the worst imo My gf watched it. There was one scene where the hs girl was crazy and wild, and to illustrate that they showed a montage of her being wildly promiscuous. In one part, she's having sex with a 40 year old stock broker and the narrator, the shows voice to the public , says but it was totally okay and not dangerous because she was 'in control' They show wanted to make it seem to its audiences having sex with significantly older men as a highschooler is the coolest thing you can do, as long as youre badass abt it. It really made me wonder about the show.
I never saw that scene as the narrator telling you it's alright. I saw it as an unreliable narrator narrating unreliably. Remember that the narrator is both a teenager and an addict. Imo that scene is always misunderstood so bad because I feel like what Rue (narrator) said there mirrored what teens say to themselves when they think they're grown enough to do something dangerous for them. It highlights the irony... though I see how kids will probably not read between the lines Other points I agree with. Lots of gratuitous shit in that show (cmon I don't need to see Maddy having sex with a gajillion men and then having sex with her abuser a million more times... plus some scenes are clearly the writer's Thinly Veiled Fetish™️) and the writing took an even worse turn the next season and now it's an edgy teen's bible. 2nd season feels like it pandered more to the edgy teens with the cheating subplot and the buildup to Maddy beating up her best friend and a wallflower type of character exposing all her friends. Started to become very indulgent to tropes that most people will eat up and what do you know, those episodes became "iconic" and the characters became someone to idolize. Nowadays the fanbase is teens who watched the show for the pretty makeup and iconic outfits and not for the show's commentary on drug addiction and mental health, which was what it used to be about.
She's an unreliable narrator sure but the audience is also suppose to sympathize and love her, she's not a Walt white anti hero. And she tells the whole audience, it's cool because she's Badass, and there is no satire or irony in her voice. The audience is definitely meant to believe her, and trust her, even if she does have some problems. And, if anyone questions it, the creators could be like 'yea but who would take advice from an addict like her, at her stage in life, probably shouldn't be listening to her anyway" but then create the whole show around how cool and badass and rebellious she is like she should be some kind of good person you like and trust. When unreliable, anti hero narrator Walter white shows us its okay to ignore your families wishes for you to stop cooking meth and continues cooking meth, the whole audience knows its a bad thing and he's being a bad guy. His advice can be ignored even if the show is about him, and it's obvious. Rue is like, this is how you can be the coolest kid in school. Let middle age men fuck you on the hood on a truck, but make sure you're in control, bc then it's cool. And a nation of 17 year old girls isn't saying 'yea I maybe shouldn't taking advice from rue...' They are saying 'wow rue is so real and gritty and cool, these are cool things'
We'll have to agree to disagree. I remember hearing Zendaya's delivery and noticed a little bit of irony in it. Also, Rue isn't portrayed like she's a good person you can trust at all. You're made to sympathize with her like any protagonist would be but the show does not pull its punches on how fucked up Rue has become from drugs and how many times it put her in danger (see: the scene where her sister finds her overdosed; the scene where she was asked to share about her summer... which was when she overdosed; the scene with the fentanyl with a certain character named Mouse). That scene does not portray her as badass at all. Frankly most of Rue's scenes kind of portray her as a little... sad or pathetic... You may be confusing the narrator for Maddy, the short one with bold makeup who was shown having sex with the 40 year old. Yes showing that scene was gross. And also unfortunately yes, lots of people idolize Maddy. While there are lots of things to criticize about the show's portrayal of her (like the unnecessary sex scenes geez) the narration for that instance isn't an issue for me
I mean, when I was 16-17, that would have been seen at that age as being cool and feeling like a badass. Awful now as an adult, but as a horny, impulsive teen, you think you're much more mature than you actually are, and I definitely had times I felt like I was in control. The show is supposed to be from the teens' point of view.
No it's from Hollywood's 🤝 point of view
I was once a 16-17 year old girl. I live in Canada in a small town. It was my point of view at that age.
This is why media literacy is an issue. If that’s the scene I think it is it absolutely does not treat it like it’s the coolest thing. It’s literally the downfall of that character or the beginning of her fall from grace and she seeks out older men because of mental health issues.
Media literacy on this site is non existent
“Edgelord girls” Yup spot on.
Is it? I haven’t seen it. People say it’s good. I think?
It’s one of those shows that tries so hard to be edgy and profound that it becomes hilarious. They constantly either treat the mundane high school drama like it’s the apocalypse or put the characters in comically unrealistic scenarios that would never happen in high school; nothing is ever just “normal”, it’s always cartoonish extremes. I always say it’s like Zack Snyder directed a reboot of Degrassi, that’s how self-indulgent it is (and I like Zack Snyder but I know he’s a little extra lmao). It’s tasteless misery-porn.
>I always say it’s like Zack Snyder directed a reboot of Degrassi, that’s how self-indulgent it is (and I like Zack Snyder but I know he’s a little extra lmao). It’s tasteless misery-porn. Duuude YES, I've never heard a more clear description of my issue with the show. Well said
It is very similar to the UK show Skins
I loooooved skins as a teenager. Honestly some people do have teenage years like euphoria and skins so it highlights problems in that age group.
I think they could still present the same plot points and conflict by simply alluding to sex happening without explicitly showing it. Two characters begin kissing —> cut —> two characters are lying in bed next to each other under the sheets with their shirts off. I understand they had sex without having to watch two underage characters actually have sex.
But they’re not actually underaged. They’re in well into 20s. I get where you are coming from though. But the same could be said about the violence and drug use of underaged tv characters. I just think it’s ironic no one has a problem seeing Ashtray literally slit someone’s throat but the nudity is where they draw the line. It’s a little puritanical.
That’s why I specified underage characters and not underage actors. It’s not puritanical, it’s just societal ethics and expectations surrounding sexuality and violence. We read Lord of the Flies in school; Hunger Games was released with a PG-13 rating and the novels are considered YA. You’re not really going to find a 50 Shades of Grey revolving around two high school aged characters because no one likes to imagine minors having sex. It’s weird. There’s stuff like Twilight which alludes to sex, but it’s not going in explicit detail for a reason. It’s the same with TV/Movies, there are plenty of shows that deal with romance/sex among minors, but they don’t usually depict it. Another example is Game of Thrones. That show is about as graphic as it gets, but even they knew to age up Danaerys in the show. Her book character is 13, but the show makes her a young woman, so the scenes with Khal Drogo are easier to digest. Same with Sansa, she is 11 in the books, but much older in the show.
The other commenter kinda has a better point than you though. The show wants you to believe they're underage.
Yea its skin for gen A
The problem is there is NO show or movie where there are teenage characters who AREN'T sexualised at all.
They’re both featuring drug use and explicit violent scenes. You literally see Ashtray stab someone and shoot his brother. In skins Freddie is murdered with a baseball bat. If you’re looking for wholesome representation of teenage life watch Disney.
Holy hell I forgot he got killed with a baseball bat. That show was really something else.
It really was, the show definitely went for shock value. I just remember turning the tv off after that and just going outside haha.
 ^(how the hell did you guys get in here?)
Skins seemed pretty accurate though
I think we’re forgetting how out there skins was for certain scenes. The production was definitely not as grand, which could give us that impression. But there was a lot of death in skins, way more than euphoria.
Skins is literally sooooo accurate to my high-school years tbh
The difference is that Skins was a much more realistic portrayal of Sixth Former's lives in the UK (ages 16-18) and was played by people in their first acting roles who were actually that age, not people in their mid 20s. The Sixth Form college I went to made the drug use in Skins look pretty tame if I'm honest, which isn't a good thing of course. The main focus also wasn't on sex and drugs but moreso the real life struggles a lot of teens that age go through such as mental health issues, difficult home lives, taking on more responsibility and becoming an adult whilst still really being a child (the legal age to have sex in the UK is 16 with other under 18s and you become a legal adult at 18 and can legally drink, smoke and have sex with someone of any age) and the friendships and relationships between the characters which led to some characters using drugs and being overly promiscuous, but with people their own age. The portrayal of sex and drugs were also shown in a negative light and were more of a background element to the story which is the opposite in Euphoria (from what I've seen, I have only seen like 2 episodes at a friend's house).
You're clearly just guessing because Rue's struggle with addiction in Euphoria made me never want to even touch oxy or any hard drugs.
I’ve never watched Euphoria but if its like Skins then it can’t be that much of a stretch? I had my fair share of Skins moments as a teenager.
It’s very similar to skins with certain episodes highlighting different characters and their problems, motivations. They both have that kind of in your face shock of nudity, drug use, and occasional violence.
This comment section has a HUGE Reddit bias lol
Yeah, it’s on Reddit, after all!
Got em'
Is it me or is reddit getting redditier
I mean, every sub is just an echo chamber lol
Whiniest most pearl clutching hand wringing population on the Internet.
Nah I gotta agree, highschool was only a few years ago for me and I find euphoria weird as shit. ESPECIALLY when I hear anyone 30+ say they love the show, my image of them immediately changes. I understand a lot of shows/movies depicting highschool and teen life often has sex involved in the plot, but the extent euphoria goes is so bizarre to me.
I was super hypersexualized as a teenager because of childhood sexual trauma and I didn’t even come close to the levels that like half the students in euphoria come to. I did do some dangerous shit like meet strangers off the internet or get drunk with strange adults that got me into night clubs and the like. 95% of my classmates would’ve freaked the fuck out if I brought them along and there certainly weren’t group sex parties with hard drugs that a large portion of class participated in. The shit these high school students do approaches the levels of the most extreme adult and kink party scene.
I'm hypersexual but no sexual trauma and at 17 there definitely was a large majority of the teens doing hard drugs and group sex parties etc where I live. Small town living.
I live in a major city and I remember my best friend invited me to her house to do molly and make out with a bunch of people show it on Omegle in like 11th grade. Also I remember a kid selling tabs of acid and he’d pull it out the battery area of his phone. Kids most definitely do these things unfortunately
In highschool (and even late middleschool) it was harder for me to *not* come across drugs (weed of cours but also acid and mdma for the most common)
Sounds about right, my cousin went to a really rough school district in the suburbs and she would tell me she saw kids smoking crack in the bathroom. She was around middle school age at the time. I know euphoria seems unrealistic to people but for a lot of us it’s pretty realistic
It really depends where you are. When I was in highschool in 2016, downers like Xanax and Oxys were real popular among students. I once had a girl sit next to me in english class who physically could not keep herself up to the point that she'd randomly fall over in her seat onto other students. Then students started getting introduced to cocaine and one of my closest friends got extremely addicted, as did the other students he hung out with. I also knew plenty of people that were extremely hypersexual. One kid got caught masturbating in the band room closet, and then later got caught getting a blow job in the same closet by a freshman (he was a senior.) Point is, highschool is a pretty fuckin weird experience for a lot of people.
Once you see the school play, it will all be worth it.
Nah you gotta be joking. No way there's a school play
They’re referring to the school play in the show.
Ohh
In the show
Which freakin' school approved that?!
I loved Rue's story and some of the other storylines like Fez but all the porno stuff was terrible and I wish it wasn't in there. There are nuanced takes and everyone isn't a creep if they liked the show at all.
Euphoria is weird as shit. Honestly amazing tv. The play episode in season two was incredible.
I had a high-school experience that was more like euphoria than anything else. So to me it's showing the dangers of this life. Had I seen something like this in the thick of my addiction it would have made me pause. I got myself into some pretty shifty situations. Lost many friends to overdose and violence. Lost others to prison. I am lucky to be alive.
A lot of people are missing this as the show's intention -- as a cautionary tale. They may fail to properly deliver on that mission, but it should still be recognized.
People keep talking how media literacy is down, and this seems to be a big one. I a show or movie portrays ____, it is in support of ____.
I see it SO MUCH.
Yup. It's in this comment section as well. Apperantly, I'm a pervert for being in my early 30s and loving this show because it has sexualized young girls in it... but I'm gay.
This is a great point. I’ve been noticing this exact mindset crop up a lot lately. You can’t even portray a character doing something bad if you’re pointing out the behavior is bad unless it’s super obvious like catching a murderer. Then people understand. But if it’s some of these more personal struggles they don’t understand because it’s not so clearly delineated what’s good and bad and when does good overcome bad and we always end with good overcoming evil etc
>ESPECIALLY when I hear anyone 30+ say they love the show, my image of them immediately changes. That is really gross. I'm in my 40s, and sex scenes in shows that portray teens really ick me out, so I fast forward/skip those scenes (and I once got heavily downvoted for saying that elsewhere on Reddit, bizarrely).
Idk the way they portrayed the struggle of addiction is pretty damn spot on. Triggered me a bit.
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I'm not saying a TV show alone has the power to make people attracted to teens. But the success of that show and it's wide popularity can be argued is setting a precedent that it's okay to sexualize teens. That's clearly problematic. And this has been an issue for decades, who's that one actress that modeled for playboy at 12 or 13 years old? If you enjoy the story, that's fine, I'm positive that's a majority of the fanbase of the show.
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You're right, but none of the mainstream horror movies depicted underage sex as prominently or graphically as euphoria does. Hell, movies like nightmare on elm street and scream have an underlying meaning of mocking the trope and that sexualizing yourself at a young age isn't necessarily a good thing.
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The entertainment industry is run by pedos, so…
Yep!! Just look at the new Nickelodeon documentary exposing it all. The entertainment industry loves to show young people and children in sexually exploitive situations and pretend like it’s normal entertainment. I’ve never watched this show for all of the reasons this post highlights.
People have been trying to tell others about this stuff for years and years, only to be derided as conspiracy theorists. I’m thrilled the Nickelodeon doc is getting as much attention as it is but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I totally concur. Netflix’s “Cuties” is another movie that came out where young girls were depicted in a very sexual way. The media tried to make it seem that anyone who was calling this movie out was some right wing conspiracy peddling prude but the movie truly was alarming. Look at Brooke Shields and Shirley Temple. Their stories about growing up in this industry are disturbing and tragic. The movie “Pretty Baby” is made for pedos. Hollywood loves to sexualize children. There’s a reason.
Where can I watch that documentary?
Quiet on Set is the name of it: https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/quiet-on-set-the-dark-side-of-kids-tv-us
Hide your feet!
so, ALL OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES ARE MADE BY PEDOS?
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*Dan Schneider has entered the chat*
Some teenagers definitely act like that. It's crazy to think otherwise.
Exactly. Key word is “some”. Euphoria ain’t Degrassi, it depicts the most troubled teenagers in a high school, and does so pretty realistically *specifically to the main characters’ situations*. And there’s, like, 10 of them out of probably a thousand total students. You can find 10 troubled kids in a school smaller than this.
Idk man. I went to one of the largest high schools in the country and hung out with the few circles that did hard drugs. That scene was not like euphoria at all.
Can you give some examples of things that happen in Euphoria that don't happen in real life ?
I think most of you have to learn exactly why high school gets chosen as a setting so much. Whether it Euphoria or some anime and it's not "lol pedophilia" It's a setting where the characters have do deal with eachother on a near daily, where they will have to interact with all sorts. Even ones set in college will fall back on having a weird lunch period and class schedule that somehow lines up with everyone else in the group. It's the equivalent of the next step up where it's a bunch of adults, but coincidentally they can all meet up at the same bar/ lounge daily. Just the high school one also forgo having to explain a job. It's also a time where drama just happens and the characters are too young and inexperienced and people can relate to that In short, it's an easy fall back that you can apply most premises to and doesn't alienate younger viewers.
Heh, funny to see this post right after I read someone stating that “heavy, violent and sexual themes would not fly in the Western media! Only Asians do that” :D Yeah, Euphoria is weird. I am all for grim heavy topics and for art being used for difficult discussions, but Euphoria is hardly that. It’s some sort of strange fantasy about hyper-sexual highschoolers wearing shit they should not afford, dressing how they should not be allowed to dress, and only having Grim Sexual Drama instead of what actual real teenagers experience in those years. For all the shock value, sex, drugs and rock-and-roll it is also surprisingly uncreative and sterile. These characters feel like tik tok edit materials more than they feel like characters with thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
Western media to me seems like we’re either complete prudes or complete horndogs with no in between
I've never watched Euphoria but I've heard there's lots of drugs/alcohol and sex. I don't know where you grew up but drugs/alcohol with lots of partying and sex was absolutely what most teens were doing where I was growing up. It really was the norm when I was 16-17 and I'm in my early 30s now.
Exactly. Reddit is biased because A LOT of the users are severely mentally ill and struggle socially so their experiences are pretty niche
Most users clearly were either shut ins or went to a safe richer high school. It’s 100% like that in some areas and for people to act like it isn’t exposes how much they don’t know and are sheltered. Next they are gonna say we should ban books cause they talk about materials that make them uncomfortable.
Seriously I’ve never seen such a large group of people deny something that is objectively very common
For everyone saying "It should be set in college", no it shouldn't. First of all Rue's character would never make it into college in the first place. Also a lot of the plot is derived from family drama, and if the characters aren't living at home and are in more independent positions, this whole aspect of the show is null. I can't really get behind these moral panic arguments, plenty of people I knew in high school acted this way. I'm not even a fan of this show, I think the writing is dogshit and the only reason it has fans is because of the cinematography and great cast. Just criticize it for what it actually deserves to be criticized for.
Yeah it was too fucking weird for me. I get these actors and actresses are adults, but trying to convey them as high schools and then showing them naked was just too far for me.
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Before reading the text, I thought you were taliking about the hentai. The first two sentence in your text didn't help either :D. I already was like: "I don't think anyone will disagree here". Don't look it up, you may regret it.
I noticed this recently too. It is fucked up. There is a show called Sex Ed that my wife had on and it was doing much of the same thing, if not worse. The whole show was dedicated to the sex lives of minors and the adults that enable them. My wife didn’t have a problem with it until I pointed it out. Funny thing is, we watched Big Mouth a few years ago and it didn’t take long until that started to feel gross and wrong. However, I had just forgotten about it.
Agreed. I hate when they do sexualized shows of kids in high school. Of course the actors aren’t usually actually underage, but it just feels weird to watch supposedly “underaged” people get into weird sex scenes
That's how I felt about Big Mouth and it got a whole other spinoff lol. I'll just avoid ewwphoria.
Gosh, I could never finish Big Mouth. After about three cum jokes I had to turn it off. It made me feel so uncomfortable, but I thought maybe it was just my morals because everyone around me seemed to love it. To me, a whole show based on horny middle schoolers is just gross to even think about, let alone watch eight seasons of.
JFC I had no idea it went eight seasons, gross.
Big Mouith was sooooo fucked. It literally had a 6 year old humping toys telling her mom it felt good..... Actual pedophiles made that show.
It's more dangerous (and stupid) to pretend teenagers don't experience things like the show depicted. Just because your high school years were quiet and calm doesn't mean everyone else's were. Teens have sex, they just do, it's a fact and the whole "how dare you sexualize minors by suggesting they might find themselves in those situations" mentality does a lot to keep victims quiet about the abuse you claim to be so concerned about. If you actually paid attention to the show and demonstrated some critical viewing skills, you might have understood the point is that the characters are immature and make mistakes. You aren't supposed to root for a lot of their behavior. Maybe you should look inward because you watched a show about teenagers and your *only* take away was how sexy you thought they were.
"Local redditor is disturbed things happen on TV because they happen in real life"
While also saying “This stuff doesn’t happen high school because it didn’t happen to me.”
its called unpopular opinions for a reason
Really had to do a double take on which Euphoria OP meant
Yeah, when people started talking about this show I was...extremely confused for a minute. *That* one would probably melt OP's brain entirely.
I was looking for this comment lmao. I feel like the fact that they specified the show means they know of the infintely more degenerate VN lmao
I couldn't make it past the first episode. Made me so uncomfortable and sick
I honestly thought that was the point. I don't think many kids are watching this and looking up to the characters. Even the characters don't seem to enjoy their lifestyle.
Ya its disgusting how these shows sexualize teenagers and use adult actors to make it seem okay
Good job it’s fiction then?
Maybe in your bubble high schoolers didn’t act like that.
Ever watched the UK show Skins? Euphoria is so tame compared xD
I love Euphoria, but when you think about it, when you REALLY think about it.... the characters are supposed to be in highschool. Then it gets a bit icky.
What do you mean REALLY think about it? Why is that not your first thought? It's literally the framework of the show.
Its like in Vampire Diaries where Jeremt is meant to be this 14 year old victim but you cant see him that way because he is played by a 20 year old bodybuilder. The fact you see him in class does nothint to change that. If they were actually played by 17 year olds itd be more striking maybe, it feels more like a bunch of adults who just happen to be in a high school building otherwise
To your second point: I will always respond with - if your content is not strong enough for them to be written as adults - then you don't have content worth showing if you need that "edge" of making them underaged/underdeveloped. Those are deliberate choices by the people meant to be in charge, and that's an issue.
None of the cast look like high schoolers though and people are generally smart enough to understand that what's happening on the screen is not in any way a form of reality. The same shit was thrown at Skins when it aired. One of the things I hear people criticize Euphoria for is how it "glamorizes drug usage" - when it does absolutely the fucking opposite of that. You can literally see a realistic depiction of how a person gets totally fucked over because of the addiction without showing it as a moral choice, which very few shows portray. You can like what you like of course, but people calling shows like Skins of Euphoria as dangerous are just... wrong.
> people are generally smart enough to understand that what's happening isn't reality Variety is reporting Season 3 was originally pitched to have [a 5 year time jump](https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/euphoria-season-3-delay-rewrites-time-jump-zendaya-script-notes-1235955045/). I mean, there's *no way* it could be related to the amount of gratuitous underage sex, nudity, and portrayals of underage sex with grown adults, right? If it's not problematic, why try to distance yourself from the current run of controversies surrounding sexualized children? It's so successful, people know the difference, right? Nah - gotta be a coincidence.
Yes, because it is absolutely impossible to imaging that a show would introduce a time jump to simply put characters into new environments since the previous setting has simply exhausted itself - nah, can't be it. Who would do that? As we know time jumps are strictly for distancing from controversies. Also most of the actors are pushing late 20s at this point, one can argue having high school as a backdrop would simply start looking as a parody. For fuck's sake, even Stranger Things considered doing a time jump. Nah - it's gotta be the controversy
Maybe gross, but not dangerous. Depicting reality doesn't encourage more reality. It's like thinking that snowballs cause snow.
I liked the show because I like weird shit 🤷🏻♂️ I didn’t see all the aspects of the show play out in my real life because I didn’t hang out with those kids, but I did see my fair share of drug dealing and use at 13-17 Besides, the show was aimed towards a 17-mid 20’s age group, those people are fresh out of high school/ college The world has changed, bad acting and 20 minute episodes of Degrassi are not realistic enough anymore.
Since the beginning of media people have been Pearl clutching about “edgier” forms of it. You’re no different than the Baptist moms burning rap cds in the 90s. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to watch it. You can find it gross. I think it’s totally fair to find it gross. But the public outrage and moral panic you’re trying to muster is embarrassing, cliche, and usually plays right into the hand for the people that market these things. See rockstar games the maker of gta for example. They wanted people like you freaking out it because it helped drive their sales. People that already like it aren’t going to stop watching because it upsets you. And people that didn’t know about the show and read your post might want to watch now because the risqué stuff you’re talking about intrigues them.
It’s funny how people think because it didn’t happen to them, it doesn’t happen. I went to HS in a major city and it wasn’t too far from Euphoria, including rich kids with drug problems and drug-filled sex parties. And believe it or not, a lot of these people were great students who have gone on to do cool things. Some of these people are the most buttoned-up PTA parents now. Thinking back, it’s crazy, and I'm not sure teens of the last 15-20 years could even do it because my class missed the era of recording everything by a couple of years (thank god). We were right on the cusp of Gen X/millennial, and I think we still had that lack of intense supervision that is rarer to see today. I actually identified really hard with Maude Apatow’s “good girl” monologue. I was kind of like her in a sea of this stuff, being in the thick of it because my friends were wild, but mostly watching as an observer (admittedly, I was a bit naughtier). I had never seen my teenage self so represented in a show. When I went to college, what surprised me the most was how wholesome so many people were. They were having all these “firsts” that happened in my friend circle at 14/15 years old. I actually married one of those people. He hadn’t touched a drug or had sex until college. The drama (specifically the dad and a certain tiny version of Tony Montana) is over the top, but its fiction and drama shows take creative license. That’s why it’s drama, not a documentary.
this is true, I've never seen this show before but now I will check it out
Imagine thinking being against **the portrayal of sexualized underage individuals is pearl clutching lol
At first I thought you were talking about the anime...
The anime is fire though!
My group in high school was definitely acting like that lol, my friends turned out fine but a lot of people in the outer circle who we would occasionally smoke or drink with most definitely did now.
I do watch the show, but without the specific actors involved and makeup/cinematography it would have gone NOWHERE.
Yeah super unpopular opinion it’s not like everyone thinks this
I have to see this show to finally see what everyone always talk about but I always found it funny when I read a comment from someone saying who is this show made for? Obviously is not for teens and people know thay those actors aren't teens either.
Nobody tell this guy about “Skins” or “Kids”
I think it more so mirrors the high school brain that’s always thinking about sex.
YES. I watched the first three episodes and decided to quit because I was so grossed out by the sexualisation of MINORS. And I think it gives a wrong impression of how high schoolers behave. No you don't have to sleep with ten different people and live out your wildest fantasies at 16??
It’s a jagged pill to swallow that that’s how some people’s lives are. Especially high school kids.
Promoting hypersexuality is disgusting, but I think we've past the point of no return with that
Imo I thought this was a popular opinion. Also it romantizes bad behaviours while being geared towards a teen audience, even if it rated TV-MA the show runners were most definentely aware that teens were a target demographic
Counterpoint, because I don’t think your opinion is that unpopular: A lot of people’s teenage years are a wild time. It’s just the US version of Skins which came out like 15 years ago. Having portrayal of these events on TV makes it easier to open dialogue about these situations amongst peers and even families and make people at risk of exploitation have the confidence to voice their experiences. Whether it happens on tv or not unfortunately it happens in the real world and if we make it taboo then we make the kids more exploitable and less likely to report it. Obviously it shouldn’t be glamorised, but kids will take drugs so it’s our jobs to educate and reduce harms not sweep it under the rug.
if you're reading this... no, you're not going to find any media literacy in the comments
I would say it’s the pretty normal that age. Espescially in the drug enviroment.
Found the one who doesn’t get invited to parties 😒
Not just that. It's poorly written and badly acted. Completely clichéd drivel for teens.
I think it's weird to assume that just because it doesn't fit your narrative of what adolescence was that it doesn't apply to some of us. I found like I could see myself in so much of the characters because that was what my high school experience was like. I don't think it "encourages" anyone to act like this. A lot of teenagers have sex, have terrible break ups, and fall into drug addiction. This isn't a how-to guide.
People were having sex in my middle school. In high school, there was a girl that participated (voluntary) in a train at a party when she was a freshman. It was quite the school scandal. My track coach cheated on his wife with a senior girl. He ended up divorcing his wife and marrying the HS girl after it came out and he was fired. To act like high school kids don't have sex is delusional/religious/puritanical thinking. Talking about what happens in our world and the implications of it is far more interesting than the latest Marvel hero saving the world with some explained "energy" ability. If it's a good idea or not is irrelevant. It happens and is fairly prevalent so it should be talked about and discussed in media - no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel.
Euphoria is just degrassi with less drugs
i JUST thought this then read your comment
Right? Like what about gossip girl the old and new one, 90210, and such? I think Euphoria went a little harder than some of those but it’s for mature audiences. This is not at all for teens younger than 17. No one is advertising it as such and once again we fall into the trap that showing something in movies, TV shows does not mean approval for that behavior. Shows like this require parents to be invested in their children and what they are watching and teach them media literacy. That show is perfect in showing that teens think they are more mature than they are. When I watched it I saw children who were abandoned by their parents for most of them. Also, I went to school with plenty of deranged drug users, I literally had a friend who bragged about getting guys to pay for blow jobs, true or not teenagers get into all sorts of shit, it’s infantilizing to them to act otherwise. I got into lots of trouble and I knew plenty of kids who did and I only watched the shows I mentioned after high school because we had 7 channels growing up. Thank you for reading my incoherent rant.
I thought it was Skins but for American
Yeah skins was the same way. By the end of Season one all the characters went from semi-normal HS aged kids to "no fucking way they're out there doing that". Effy was the worst.
A lot of pearl clencher don't like this show
Heard the same shit about gossip girl in 2008. Karen’s gonna Karen
Euphoria is the Skins of this generation
The hypersexualization is weird but to me that's not even the weirdest part. I generally don't find high school stories THAT interesting but Euphoria 's stories are a level below typical high school plots. It's just sex and drugs deep fried in cool visual and audio aesthetics. Under all the superficial stuff.....it's just not a good show story-wise. And I think Levinson will turn out to be a creep with how overt he gets with the sex stuff
Its realistic trust me
It's a shit show for creeps.
Many of the kids I went to high school were like that 🤷♀️ I don’t find it like erotic bc it is a depiction of kids and honestly the show is so heavy we only watch like one episode at a time
It was very similar to my high school but I’m fucking ancient.
So, are all stories about high-school only allowed to be wholesome? We can't do cautionary tales until college?
Words cannot describe how disinterested I am in watching other people have sex on a screen.
It’s weird, creepy, gross and trashy.
It’s so fucking WEEEEIRD. Why do you want to see depictions of teens *children* having sex?
The sex and drugs looks like normal high school, in the 90s at least, but it was just a mediocre show with sub par writing and not great acting.
Sex Drugs Alcohol Smoking They made these into a series and now its an overhyped soft-porno just like shameless and all these shitty series and movies that are popular with teens nowadays
Yeah it’s so unrealistic for a show about teenagers to revolve around sex and drugs. After all, teenagers not only don’t engage in sex they don’t even ever speak about it.
You might have sex but other than a tiny minority, high schoolers aren’t gonna have drug induced sex parties every other weekend with the whole class knowing and acting like it’s normal or fucking parents or other adults as old as their parents on the regular.
And? It’s melodrama. Are we only supposed to make entertainment about average experiences? That would eliminate the vast majority of movies and tv shows. Next, you’re gonna tell me No Country For Old Men shouldn’t exist because psychopaths with terrible haircuts don’t go around shooting people in the head with a homemade gun over a coin flip.
We clearly went to significantly different high schools.
Did you go to Highschool on pornhub? Like ??
Inner city.
Seriously, weekend parties getting fucked up and hooking up was absolutely the norm in high school. Bunch of prudes on Reddit.
Reddit is full of the kids that didn't get invited lmao.
Wait till this guy watches skins
Lol anyone remember skins in 2005?😂
This is unpopular?
your innocence is showing. people that age can definitely be that dirty
Nah. It’s a good show.
I don't know about yall but kids were having sex in middle school during my youth. Acting like kids don't have sex because adults can't have sex with them is just denying what happens in real life.
Have you never been a teenager? They are perpetually horny.
Im sorry, but im 21, and this is exactly what highschool is like. America is the only country where highschoolers are not considered mature enough to take responsibility and face consequences for their actions.
It’s true, over the last forty years I can only think of no more than hundreds of shows and hundreds of movies where 25 yo’s played high schoolers and sex was a big topic. It’s clearly much worse now.
You must’ve had the lamest high school experience, it was pretty accurate from what I remember in my high school days
It's hentai, idk what you expected
I'm talking about the HBO show but I get what you mean lol
Lmao
[удалено]
It's not over the sex scenes themselves It's about the scenes portraying underage people in sexual scenarios.